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Acafellas (Episode)
Acafellas is the third episode of Glee's first season, and the third episode overall. It premiered on September 16th, 2009. The episode sees the Glee club director Will Schuester form an all-male a cappella group, the Acafellas, neglecting the club in favor of dedicating his time to the new endeavor. Will tells his parents that Terri is pregnant, and Rachel hires Dakota Stanley, due to Quinn and Santana's advice and "concern" on their choreography. Will is slowly being pulled away from Glee Club as he works with the Acafellas. The episode was directed by John Scott and written by Ryan Murphy. Plot The episode opens with Will telling his parents at dinner that Terri is currently pregnant. They are tickled but Terri is understandably shocked. Will confides in his father that he is scared. Will's father tells him parenthood is all about guts, and he regrets not following through with his dream of being a lawyer. Later on voicing the concerns of the Cheerios members, Rachel tells Will at practice that their choreography needs work. They want to hire Dakota Stanley, professional choreographer with a Broadway background. Shop teacher/cough medicine addict Henri St. Pierre is back at school after losing his thumbs in a table saw mishap. "I'll never hitchhike across Europe," he says. Sitting in the teacher's lounge several of the male faculty members swap sob stories about their lives. After a particularly strong rendition of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow, Will decides to form an a cappella group named Acafellas with Ken, Henri and Howard. At home, Terri has sex with Will more frequently in attempt to actually get pregnant. Will is missing Glee practices to work with Acafellas. Finn is mad at Rachel for pushing Will away with the choreography critique. The members of glee decide to hire Dakota. Rachel and Finn have an argument related to their previous hook-up. She wants to bring in Dakota, even if it means Finn will quit. The Cheerios update Sue about their progress taking down Glee from within. Quinn thinks Dakota will be so hard on the Glee kids they will "quit or commit suicide." Mercedes is wishing she had a boyfriend. After seeing that Kurt and Mercedes are friendly, Quinn and Santana suggests she should try to get with him. Acafellas perform Poison at a sports bar. After the show Figgins asks Will if they will perform at the next PTA meeting. A local newspaper prints a glowing review of the Acafellas' performance (except for Howard). Sandy (who hasn't been allowed to join the group) wants in because Josh Groban is scheduled to be at the PTA meeting. Sandy is a hardcore fan of Groban's after Josh Groban accidentally friended him on MySpace, and has heard Josh Groban may be looking for an opening act. On the way to watching rehearsal of one of Dakota's groups, Vocal Adrenaline, Mercedes asks Kurt on a date. Members of the group including Andrea Cohen warn the Glee kids that Dakota is too hard. Following an outstanding rehearsal by Vocal Adrenaline, Dakota screams for them to "get off my stage." Afterwards Dakota tells the McKinley kids his fee is $8,000, plus a $10,000 bonus if they place 3rd or higher. Howard calls Will and tells him he wants to quits the Acafellas. Emma tells Will and Ken that Henri is headed to rehab. Emma convinces Will not to give up on Acafellas. Finn tells Will he wants to quit Glee, that he isn't having fun anymore. Will brings up Acafellas. Mohawked football player and Cougar-chaser Puck asks Ken if he can be in the Acafellas. The new Acafellas lineup works on its dance moves. Rachel and Tina try and warn Mercedes that Kurt is gay. Mercedes isn't convinced, and tells them she is tired of being lonely. Sue has the Cheerios help with Glee's choreographer car wash fundraiser. When Mercedes asks Kurt if they can make their relationship "official," he tells her he's in love with someone else. He stares at Finn but tells Mercedes it is Rachel. She throws a rock through the windshield of his truck, leading to a (imagined) performance by Mercedes of Bust Your Windows. At the first Dakota-run rehearsal, the new choreographer begins by cutting Artie and Mercedes and making fun of everybody. When everyone starts to quit, Rachel decides they should fire Dakota and celebrate their differences. Before the Acafellas go on stage, Sandy tells them Josh Groban is in the front row. During their performance of I Wanna Sex You Up, Terri seems to notice how much Emma is enjoying watching Will. Josh Groban comes backstage, congratulating the group and serves Sandy with a restraining order, telling him, "Stop sending me nude photos!" In the parking lot after the show, Terri tells Will how impressed she was with the performance. We see Josh Groban is all over Will's mother. Will tells his father the Acafellas thing was fun, but he is a teacher at heart. Will's father has decided to pursue his dream and go to law school. At school the next day Kurt tells Mercedes he is gay. He also reveals that she is the first person he has ever told. Mercedes tells him he shouldn't be ashamed of who he is. Kurt tells her he isn't confident enough to be himself. Glee is back to work on a new number and Sue is furious the Cheerios failed at bringing down the club: "I'm going to need you to smell your armpits. That's the smell of failure." Quinn tells Sue what she taught her "When you really believe in yourself you don't have to bring other people down." The episode ends with Rachel praising Mr. Schue's choreography and the club laughing and working on their new number. Songs * †''' denotes an unreleased song. Background Songs *La Camisa Negra' by ''Juanes. Sung by Puck. Guest Stars Special Guest Star *Josh Groban as himself Guest Cast *Stephen Tobolowsky as Sandy Ryerson *Patrick Gallagher as Ken Tanaka *Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins *Debra Monk as Mrs. Schuester *John Lloyd Young as Henri St. Pierre *Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez *Heather Morris as Brittany Pierce *Whit Hertford as Dakota Stanley *Clint Culp as Teamster *Victor Garber as Mr. Schuester Co-Stars *Kent Avenido as Howard Bamboo *Marie Caldare as Mrs Holloway *Maxine English as Mrs Robinson *Gregory Hinton as Flex, the Bodyguard *Brooke Newton as Leggy Blonde *Vivian Nixon as Andrea Cohen *Shelby Rabara as Shoshandra Trivia *Acafellas is a fairly common name for a male a cappella group, both at the professional and student level - there are Acafellas in Daytona Beach, Ottawa, Loyola University, Muhlenberg College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Alfred University and more - and most of these groups pre-date Glee by at least five years. *When talking to Will about famous people Emma mentions John Stamos, this could be taken as foreshadowing because John Stamos would later join Glee as Dentist Carl Howell, who dates Emma in season two. *The first (and so far only) appearance of Will's parents and Henri St. Pierre. *Santana breaks up with Puck in this episode. *This episode was watched by 6.642 million viewers *The first time we see Santana cry. *This is the first episode where Rachel doesn't sing a solo. *Rachel talks about how Barbra Streisand refused to get a nose job when she was younger and the rest of the club decides not to quit even though they do not fit a certain mold that Dakota wanted. Rachel, however, struggles with self-acceptance about her nose later on in Born This Way. *This is the first episode where Puck's singing voice/talent was heard/discovered. *Josh Groban was the first major special guest star to appear on the show. * Cheyenne Jackson was originally cast as Dakota Stanley, but he had to pull out due to sickness. He would later play another associate of Vocal Adrenaline, Dustin Goolsby, in season Two. *Dakota Stanley calls Finn "Frankenteen" in this episode, a nickname that would cling on him. Santana has called him that several times in Season Two and Three, too. *A Lady Gaga's dancer appears as a Vocal Adrenaline dancer, Jeremy Hudson, during Mercy. He's friends with Heather Morris. Errors *During the Bust Your Windows number, you can see Kurt in the background bouncing back and forth from standing "frozen in shock" to desperately leaning on the hood at almost every angle change. *When singing with Acafellas, Henri (the man who lost his thumbs) can be seen holding a microphone where his thumb is clearly visible. *You can briefly see Lea Michele's tattoo when she raises her hand during the voting for whether or not they hire Dakota. *Just before the "Bust Your Windows" segment Mercedes throws a rock at the windshield of Kurt's Escalade. The rock goes right through the glass into the car. The windshields of all contemporary cars (like Kurt's) would not behave that way. These windshields are made of laminated glass that cracks but does not break so easily, and would not allow a rock thrown from a few feet away to penetrate it. Quotes Navigational Category:Episodes Category:Season One Episodes